Hi! I would like to introduce
you to your district governor for 2002-2003.I am Gerald Inman from the Stanwood Lions Club.I would prefer that you refer to me by the
name “Jerry”.

I was born at
Walnut, IA, and was raised on farms in small communities in south-western Iowa
graduating from Atlantic High School in 1963.

I attended the
University of Northern Iowa in Cedar Falls to pursue a career in science
education.I met my wife, Connie, who
was also a student at UNI.We were
married in 1965 in Cedar Falls.

After graduating
from The University of Northern Iowa in the spring of 1967, we moved to
Stanwood, IA, where I accepted a chemistry and physics teaching position at
Lincoln Community School.I taught
science and math for 33 years in the same classroom until my retirement in June
of 2000.Connie taught 1st and 3rd
grades in the same school system and retired in June of 2000 also.

Connie and I were
blessed with two children, Joe and Amy.They are both married and have families of their own.Joe lives in Ames with his wife Becky and
their three children named Alex, Casey and Megan.Amy lives in Stanwood with her husband Alan and theirtwo children, Emily and Rachel.Yes, we are the proud grandparents of five
grandchildren!

My work as a
volunteer began at Lincoln Community school when the basketball coach asked me
to keep the score book for the games.I
was the official scorekeeper for 28 years.I also volunteered my time working at many of the other sporting events.

In 1974, Stanwood
started an ambulance service replacing a station wagonwith a real ambulance.I took the emergency medical technician
course, became an EMT, and amstill
serving on the ambulance service.I
joined the Stanwood Lions Club .in 1978 andserved as tailtwister in 1979-1980.In the spring of 1980, Lion Don Hegarty, Jr. interrupted my class at
school to ask if I would consider serving as secretary for the Stanwood
Lions.It was obvious that he was not
going to allow me to get back to the lesson I was teaching until I agreed.To make a short story long, I served as
secretary from 1980 through 1999 and again in 2000-2001.I was the president of the Stanwood Lions
in1999-2000.I have received several awards for my work in Lionism including
the 100% SecretariesAward and the
Stanwood Club’s nominee for the Ralph A. Whitten Service Award in 1999.

My service beyond
the club level in Lionism is limited to recent years.I served as Zone Chairman in 2000-2001 and as Vice District
Governor this last year.And here I am,
your District Governor for the year 2002-2003.

I see myself as one
Lion on a team of 1,700 Lions in District 9X9.My theme this year is to “Build a Future--Leave a Legacy”.Together the Lions of District 9X9 can
accomplish this.

I encourage you to
read the front page of next month’s LION TALK as I will be talking about
our trip to Osaka, Japan, to the DGE Seminar and the Lions International
Convention.I will also introduce
International President Kay K. Fukushima’s plan for club extension and will
explain how I will apply it to District 9X9.

See you next month,
DGE Jerry Inman.

CLUB SECRETARY EXCELLENCE AWARDS

This year I
will be recognizing club secretaries that do an outstanding job.The work done by the secretary is crucial to
the local club and all levels within the Lions Association.Get your membership and activities reports
send in on time and look for the qualifications for this award included with
the next newsletter.

LIONS
EMBLEM ROAD SIGNS

One of International President Kay K. Fukushima’s goals is to
improve the image of Lions clubs.To do
this, there has been a program instituted through Lions Clubs International to
replace faded, bent or missing Lions emblem road signs.Clubs will be able to purchase a new sign
at cost plus postage.To do this,
submit aphoto documenting the need for
replacement along with a sign order to the Club Supplies Division.Requests will be filled on a first-come,
first-served basis as availability for this program will be limited.

I encourage all clubs to take a look at the emblem road signs
for their communities.If they need
replaced, take advantage of this program.A fresh sign will give your community a fresh image of your Lions
club.A fresh sign could also give your
members fresh enthusiasm for Lionism.

MEMBERSHIP AND ACTIVITY

REPORTS

Secretaries, you
must send monthly membership reports to your district governor and Lions
International by the 5th of each month.The membership report can be filed with LionsInternational electronically or by the membership report forms
included with the secretarial supplies.

I would ask that you
include a monthly activities report along with your membership report to
me.This activities report can be done
using MONTHLY ACTIVITIES REPORT included in this newsletter.Include what your club has done during the
previous month and information concerning upcoming events.Give sufficient detail as my intentions are
to use information from these reports to create a club page in future newsletters.I would also encourage you to include
pictures that could be used on this club page.Send these reports to DG Gerald Inman, P.O. Box 39, Stanwood, IA 52337
or send the information by e-mail to gcinman@netins.net.

It would be very beneficial to send copies of the membership
and activities reports to both your region and zone chairs.Please consult the listing of cabinet
members included in this newsletter for mailing addresses.

NEWSPAPER ARTICLES

In one of my DGE
Pre-Seminar Assignments for the DGE School in Japan, I was asked to answer the
question, “What is one thing you plan to do in your district to present and
promote a positive image of Lions in your communities?”

To answer this question, I replied, “I will be stressing the
importance of getting articles and pictures concerning club activities in local
newspapers.To encourage clubs to do
this, I will be asking the clubs to send copies of these articlesand pictures to me so I can set up a display
of them at the District Convention.”

I ask each club to assign a member to be a reporter for the
club.The responsibility of this
reporter will be to take pictures at club activities, write articles for the
local newspaper, and submit the articles along with pictures for publication in
the paper.The last task for the
reporter is to obtain copies of these from the newspaper and send them to
me.These could be sent along with the
Membership and Activities Report each month by the club secretary.

CLUB BUILDERS TOOLBOX

To assist your club
and club officers build a better tomorrow, Lions International has new
tools to do the job.It’s time to
select new tools and sharpen old ones.The Club Builders Toolbox includes a set of best ideas and new materials
for recruiting, involving and developing club membership.Sections within the toolbox are Membership
programs, New member recruitment, Networking, Relationship building, Improving
club meetings, Transfer of leadership, Fund raising ideas, Signature service
projects, Club retreats, Building cadres of leaders and Spotlighting leaders.

Club toolboxes can be ordered from Club Supplies for $14.95
plus postage by completing the form on Club Supplies web page
www.lionsclubs.org or by contacting Club Supplies and Distribution at
International Headquarters.

MEMBERSHIP IDEA

Look to the
North.Are your neighbors just north of
you Lions?If not, why not?They see you participating in Lions
activities.Go ask them to join
you.If they are Lions, look in a
different direction.

DG OFFICIAL VISITS

I encourage each
club to schedule an official visit with me as soon as possible.You can do this by completing the form
included with this newsletter and sending it to me or sending me the same
information by e-mail atgcinman@netins.net.

BASEBALL, ANYONE?

On Thursday, June
27, at John O’Donnell Stadium in Davenport, the River Bandits will be playing
Peoria.This game is being sponsored by
the Region I Lions and admittance to the game will be granted to anyone in exchange
for a pair of used eyeglasses or a hearing aid.The collection point will open at 5:30 PM, gates for the game
open at 6:00 PM, and the game starts at 7:00 PM.

A similar thing is
being done on Thursday, July 25, at Riverview Stadium in Clinton by the Lions
of the Clinton area.Admission will be
a pair of old glasses or a hearing aid.The Lumberkings will be playing host to Cedar Rapids with game time
being 7:00 PM.Any Lions Club member
and/or their family can purchase tickets (before July 15th) to the picnic area
for $12.00 and enjoy all the food and drink you can eat from 5:30 to game
time.Call Ken Thompson 563-522-2953 or
Bud Jacobs 563-243-8815 for tickets and more information.

On Sunday, July 28,
at Sec Taylor Stadium in Des Moines, the Iowa Cubs will have an afternoon game
with the Omaha Royals.This is the
Lions Club Night and tickets are only $2.00.For information, call 515-243-6111 or 1-800-GO-ICUBS and ask for Julie
Lofdahl.

See the new Veterans
Memorial Stadium on Monday, July 29, when the Cedar Rapids Kernels play
Peoria.Game time is 7:00 PM.There will be club seating under the roof
for an admission price of $5.00.For more
information and RSVP, contact Gary Glockhoff at 319-247-2337 or by e-mail at
g.glockhoff@mcleod.net.

See you at the
ballpark!

MERL TEAM SEMINAR HELD

A MERL Team Seminar
was held on June 8 at the Coralville Library with 42 Lions from in eastern Iowa
in attendance.Facilitators for the
seminar were Iowa Lions State Committee Chairpersons PDG Harold Freeman
(Membership and Marketing), PDG Don King (Extension), DG Tim Wilson (Retention)
and PDG Gail Reed (Public Relations). Motivational talks on membership,
extension, retention and leadership were topics for the day.A tour of the Iowa Lions Eye Bank was
conducted by Coordinator Pat Mason after the seminar.

IOWA STATE FAIR BOOTH

Again this year the
Iowa Lions will have a booth at the Iowa State Fair running from Aug. 8 through
Aug. 18.The booth will be number 803
in the V.I. Building.A $100 meat
drawing for adults and a prize for the kids will be done this year.Mints will be available for donations.District 9X9 will be responsible for manning
the booth on Friday, Aug. 16.District
9X9 Lions interested in serving in this manner should contact IPDG Rudy Arp by
phone at563-284-6710, e-mail at
rudarp@aol.com or at P.O. Box 112, Walcott, IA 52773.

We hope to sign up a
lot of possible new members and toot our Lions Horn for good public relations.

See everyone at the
Fair!

DATES FOR YOUR CALENDAR

9X9 CABINET MEETING

Aug. 4, 2002, at the Legion Building in Mechanicsville

USA/CANADA LEADERSHIP FORUM

Sept. 19-21, 2002, at Fort Worth, Texas

9X9 FALL RALLY

Oct. 13, 2002, at West Branch

IOWA LIONS MIDWINTER CONFERENCE

Jan. 10 & 11, 2003, at Ames

9X9 DISTRICT CONVENTION

Feb. 22 & 23, 2003 at Cedar Rapids and Stanwood

LIONS OF IOWA STATE CONVENTION

May 30, 31 & June 1, 2003 at Marshalltown

86TH INTERNATIONAL CONVENTION

June 30-July 4, 2003, at Denver, Colorado

WHERE IS THE DISTRICT GOVERNOR?

July 2 through July 13--DGE Seminar and International Convention
in Osaka, Japan